Hawkgirl #2 Review by Tim Board

 

   This review is full of spoilers, so if you haven't read it yet, then please come back after you do. Also, if you're a fan of the writer of this book, you might want to skip this as well. Sorry, gotta be honest. Anyway, let's take a look.

   It starts out with another scene with the villain Velpecula bargaining with two young boys and telling them she'll be back when she needs them. This same kind of scene happened in issue #1 but it still doesn't seem to make much sense. And we get another gay couple (Is everyone in this story gay?). There's a werewolf for some reason and it's a rather confusing start. 

   We get another love scene with Galaxy and her lover Kat before Hawkgirl finally shows up. It appears that she's being tormented by ghosts of her past lives and she still can't quite shake them yet. Maybe that's why she moved to Metropolis but it doesn't seem to be helping much Something is zapping the crap out of her but Galaxy just happens to know what to do to help Kendra out. She helps Kendra bond with her wings and then instead of trying to find out what's going on, she invites Kendra to a party at a bar. The bar's name is Planet X, which just so happens to be the Twitter name of the writer (Jadzia Axelrod). Maybe it's a bit of a self-promo for fans she hasn't blocked from viewing her tweets yet. 

   This invitation to a bar causes Kendra to become all analytical about herself. She agonizes, "What if she broke those routines? What if she went to a bar she'd never been to before with people she barely knows? Who would she be then?" I didn't realize going to a new bar was such a self-defining moment. 

   At this point, I almost fell asleep, but I gave myself a couple of slaps across the face and a pep talk and soldiered on. 

   Anyway, after thoroughly analyzing the situation, Kendra decides to go to the bar. Planet X is pretty interesting. I guess. There are what seem to be aliens there as well in civilian clothes. I had to remind myself this was Metropolis and not some rebel outpost. Kendra runs into her old college friend Abilene who is ecstatic that Kendra came to a gay bar. Which is how Kendra realizes it's a gay bar. Come on girl, smell the coffee. "Of course it's a gay bar! Why would we go to a straight bar?," gushes Galaxy. (Gawd, make it stop.)

Meanwhile, Velpecula is wrecking havoc downtown with three of her human-turned monsters as they head towards the smell of Nth metal. Kendra is feeling the weight of history fall off of her shoulders as she dances when Velpecula crashes the party. A big battle ensues. Galaxy and her lover do pretty well, and even the dog blasts a dog-monster (or was that the werewolf we saw in the beginning?). Kendra gets pinned helplessly by Velpecula, who snaps off part of Kendra's wing and takes off. 

   I gotta say two things here. First, Galaxy's girlfriend Kat picks up Kendra's mace and hauls it way across the room for a bull's eye hit on one of the monsters. It's been shown before that Nth metal is really heavy, and you need super-strength or enhanced strength like Kendra to lift it.  Unless this Kat lady is another alien or super-person that I'm not aware of, she shouldn't be able to do that, I don't care how big she is. Second, Nth metal is extremely durable. You would have to have super-strength to break or even dent it. Velpecula must have super-strength as well because she snapped that wing off pretty easily. The writer had two chances to demonstrate the power of Nth metal but missed them. 

   So what I gather is that Velpecula needs an insane amount of Nth metal to open a portal to this Nth world. Her attempts have fallen short, so now she has stolen a bit off of Kendra, who is sure to come after it. Which is a trap, of course. 

   The issue ends with Abilene standing in shock that Kendra is actually Hawkgirl. Somehow, this doesn't seem like such an "oh crap" moment that the writer was going for. It didn't exactly leave me gasping and cursing the four-week wait until the next issue. 

   The art is pretty good. Although I have to say that most Hawkgirl fans were introduced to Kendra through Stephen Sadowski and Rags Morales' art. And in the beginning, Kendra was rather small. In this series, she's giving Big Barda a run for her money. She is BUFF. And she seems to own only two sets of clothing, her Hawkgirl costume and that five sizes too small tank top and extremely short jorts. 

  The Good
  The writer does seem to have done her homework in some areas and it was interesting to see all the previous lives of Kendra. Although they are never named so maybe it's the artist who did that part. 
   This "Nth World" still has me curious and I can say that it's the only thing I find interesting about the book. I want to see where it goes and how it is connected to the Nth metal. This is what I mean by building on the characters and their history. 
   This Galaxy character seems pretty interesting and I suppose she'll pop up in other places in the future. The fact that DC allowed this character to be such a major character in Kendra's story seems to imply that she'll be around for a while. I'm slowly starting to not see Starfire when I look at her. 
   The art by Amancay Nahuelpan is good and Adriano Lucas is great with the colors. This super BUFF Kendra still seems odd but I guess it's the artist's style. 

   The Not-So-Good
   The writing is rather boring and I had to force myself to read through the long dialogue. We didn't learn much about Kendra in this issue except that she struggles with things like going to bars and that she talks to her past selves like they are ghosts hanging over her shoulder. 
   I mentioned that Galaxy seemed like an interesting character, but I feel like she's pushing Hawkgirl out of her own comic. DC should have just named the series Galaxy and Hawkgirl, but I guess this is their way of bringing Galaxy out more. I do feel like I'm eating a pizza but tolerating the anchovies that I can't push aside, though. 
   I posted this on social media a while back, but a good writer does not inject themselves into an established character. If not, it only shows ignorance and a disrespect to the fans of that character. A talented writer can put themselves aside and build the character they are writing. This writer gets a failing grade in this area. It's pretty obvious this writer is working out her own fantasies and sexual preferences in this book. There's nothing wrong with that. If it was her own story. But this is a Hawkgirl comic and this writer seems to be building up her own world instead of adding to the legend of Hawkgirl. 

   This series is starting to look more and more like a missed opportunity for Hawkgirl fans and just another book for the writer to promote her original character and agenda. Sorry, but I'm a Hawkgirl fan and this issue was easily forgettable. 

Rating: 4/10

David Talaski
(Just in case, Hawkman does not appear in this book.)